Conflicting Passports

My wife has the typical middle name conflict between the Philippines and the US. Her married name here didn’t follow the Philippines convention of the maiden name becoming the new middle name.

We are now applying for my wife’s US citizenship and do not want to bother changing her American name to match the Philippine convention. There are just too many things to change here.

Once we get her American citizenship we want to get her dual citizenship and renew her Philippine passport. It hasn’t been renewed or amended since we were married and has now expired. Can we just apply for dual citizenship, report our marriage, and renew the Philippines passport the way the Philippines wants it? Then she would have 2 passports that conflict with regard to her middle name. Can we just go with this situation?

Are there issues with this?

1. When we get her dual citizenship, report her marriage, and apply to get her a new Philippines passport is there any way they will notice her American name doesn’t follow the Philippine convention? Would this cause an issue? I don’t see anything on our marriage certificate that gives her new name.

2. If she travels to the Philippines she would enter the country with her Philippine passport. The airline tickets would match this passport. When she re-enters the US she would use her American passport. This won’t match her airline tickets. Is this a problem?

3. If we were blessed with children, would there be any problems when registering their births in the Philippines? I mean with regard to their mother’s name on the birth certificates. We’d like to keep the possibility of dual citizenship available to any children we have.

Are there better solutions to our situation? Does an “affidavit of one and the same person” enter in anywhere here?

Can we just let the Philippine and American passports disagree? This seems to be less hassle all the way around.

My wife has the typical middle name conflict between the Philippines and the US. Her married name here didn’t follow the Philippines convention of the maiden name becoming the new middle name.

We are now applying for my wife’s US citizenship and do not want to bother changing her American name to match the Philippine convention. There are just too many things to change here.

Once we get her American citizenship we want to get her dual citizenship and renew her Philippine passport. It hasn’t been renewed or amended since we were married and has now expired. Can we just apply for dual citizenship, report our marriage, and renew the Philippines passport the way the Philippines wants it? Then she would have 2 passports that conflict with regard to her middle name. Can we just go with this situation?

Are there issues with this?

1. When we get her dual citizenship, report her marriage, and apply to get her a new Philippines passport is there any way they will notice her American name doesn’t follow the Philippine convention? Would this cause an issue? I don’t see anything on our marriage certificate that gives her new name.

2. If she travels to the Philippines she would enter the country with her Philippine passport. The airline tickets would match this passport. When she re-enters the US she would use her American passport. This won’t match her airline tickets. Is this a problem?

3. If we were blessed with children, would there be any problems when registering their births in the Philippines? I mean with regard to their mother’s name on the birth certificates. We’d like to keep the possibility of dual citizenship available to any children we have.

Are there better solutions to our situation? Does an “affidavit of one and the same person” enter in anywhere here?

Can we just let the Philippine and American passports disagree? This seems to be less hassle all the way around.

Thanks

She can continue to use a Philippine passport with the name entered according to the rules DFA applies. If this differs from the 'legal' name she normally uses, then an "Affidavit of One and the Same Person" can be issued by a Philippine consulate to document the reason for the passport differing from her other legal documents & ID.

When she naturalizes, she will have the option of changing her name as part of the naturalization process. She can choose at this point to change her name to follow Philippine conventions, keep her current name unchanged or adopt a new American name. She will renew her passport after applying for Retention of Philippine citizenship. The Philippines may require her to use the Philippine form of her married name. Again if this differs from the name she has elected to use as a US citizen, she can apply to a Philippine consulate for an "Affidavit of One and the Same Person"

When she travels, she will normally be buying tickets in the name that is on her passport. In this case of two passports with differing names, she should buy tickets in the name appearing in the passport that contains her normally used legal name (US passport in this case) and include the "Affidavit of One and the Same Person" with the passport when presenting the passport that does not contain her normally used legal name (Philippine passport in this case).

The "Affidavit of One and the Same Person" is a relatively common, but obscure document that is routinely used by Filipinas who divorce in a foreign country and then remarry. While this is the most common reason for the Affidavit being requested, it is available to most Filipinos who find themselves in a situation where their legal name and passport name differ.

Yes, you can let the 2 passports disagree on what her name is. The Affidavit is optional, but is a government issued document that explains the reason for the "wrong" name. Saves a bit of hassle when the question arises

The adventure continuesFritz

May you find what you want in life,
know it when you see it and
have the good luck to get it
... and keep it!!!

My wife has the typical middle name conflict between the Philippines and the US. Her married name here didn’t follow the Philippines convention of the maiden name becoming the new middle name.

We are now applying for my wife’s US citizenship and do not want to bother changing her American name to match the Philippine convention. There are just too many things to change here.

Once we get her American citizenship we want to get her dual citizenship and renew her Philippine passport. It hasn’t been renewed or amended since we were married and has now expired. Can we just apply for dual citizenship, report our marriage, and renew the Philippines passport the way the Philippines wants it? Then she would have 2 passports that conflict with regard to her middle name. Can we just go with this situation?

Are there issues with this?

1. When we get her dual citizenship, report her marriage, and apply to get her a new Philippines passport is there any way they will notice her American name doesn’t follow the Philippine convention? Would this cause an issue? I don’t see anything on our marriage certificate that gives her new name.

2. If she travels to the Philippines she would enter the country with her Philippine passport. The airline tickets would match this passport. When she re-enters the US she would use her American passport. This won’t match her airline tickets. Is this a problem?

3. If we were blessed with children, would there be any problems when registering their births in the Philippines? I mean with regard to their mother’s name on the birth certificates. We’d like to keep the possibility of dual citizenship available to any children we have.

Are there better solutions to our situation? Does an “affidavit of one and the same person” enter in anywhere here?

Can we just let the Philippine and American passports disagree? This seems to be less hassle all the way around.

Thanks

The BEST solution to your situation is to use her married name according to the Philippine convention when she does her Citizenship. Probably 99.9% of the stuff in the U.S. tosses the middle name out as 'irrelevant' anyways. Just get the Citizenship done and use her maiden name as her middle name her U.S. passport will then be in the same name, you can have her Social Security updated/corrected, and maybe her Driver's License/State ID. Nothing much else really matters what middle name it has. At your leisure you can have things like insurance beneficiary statements corrected. Same with any bank accounts or stuff like that.

The Philippines has various restrictions on what a married woman may legally use for her name, the U.S. doesn't care. For best results go with the more restrictive country. Another alternative is to ditch the middle name completely.

Medical Exams – A caller explained that the civil surgeon who completed the medical exam used the wrong form and then wanted to charge an indigent refugee to reprocess the paperwork on the correct form. What recourse does an applicant have if this occurs?

USCIS Response: Customers should notify the Director of their local office when they have a complaint about a civil surgeon.

My wife has the typical middle name conflict between the Philippines and the US. Her married name here didn’t follow the Philippines convention of the maiden name becoming the new middle name.

We are now applying for my wife’s US citizenship and do not want to bother changing her American name to match the Philippine convention. There are just too many things to change here.

Once we get her American citizenship we want to get her dual citizenship and renew her Philippine passport. It hasn’t been renewed or amended since we were married and has now expired. Can we just apply for dual citizenship, report our marriage, and renew the Philippines passport the way the Philippines wants it? Then she would have 2 passports that conflict with regard to her middle name. Can we just go with this situation?

Are there issues with this?

1. When we get her dual citizenship, report her marriage, and apply to get her a new Philippines passport is there any way they will notice her American name doesn’t follow the Philippine convention? Would this cause an issue? I don’t see anything on our marriage certificate that gives her new name.

2. If she travels to the Philippines she would enter the country with her Philippine passport. The airline tickets would match this passport. When she re-enters the US she would use her American passport. This won’t match her airline tickets. Is this a problem?

3. If we were blessed with children, would there be any problems when registering their births in the Philippines? I mean with regard to their mother’s name on the birth certificates. We’d like to keep the possibility of dual citizenship available to any children we have.

Are there better solutions to our situation? Does an “affidavit of one and the same person” enter in anywhere here?

Can we just let the Philippine and American passports disagree? This seems to be less hassle all the way around.

Thanks

Hi,

My US passport name is based on American way. However, when I renewed my Philippine passport, they put two last names on it. (ex.Last name: Pantoja-Adams). My middle name on my US and Philippine passport are both the same (ex.Middle name: De Jesus). My dual citizenship certificate has two names on it. (ex. Lea Pantoja Adams- which is the Philippine way) and below this name they put "also known as" (ex. Lea De Jesus Adams - which is American way). I am going to the Philippines by the end of this year and purchased my tickets based on my american passport, so hopefully, I wouldn't encounter any problem. I think, if both names are listed on the dual citizenship certificate, there won't be a problem regarding travel but Iam not so sure of this.

Fritz, thanks for your info, that’s the direction we’re inclined to go in. A concern I have though, is I’ve heard of some consulates giving people a hard time with getting the “Affidavit of One and the Same Person" and even refusing to give it. But what you said about having the 2 passports does clarify things! Thanks.

Mark, thank for your info, too. You always provide good info, well thought-out, and the sources for it. My concern with changing names within the US is that it may not be so easy. We’re worried about any confusion this may cause with my wife’s credit ratings with the 3 major bureaus, setting ourselves up for hassles with the IRS and our state tax agency, employer history for references, and something unknown popping up. Also my wife has already used her green card name in the Philippines to set up account relationships with some utility companies for property she owns.

My US passport name is based on American way. However, when I renewed my Philippine passport, they put two last names on it. (ex.Last name: Pantoja-Adams). My middle name on my US and Philippine passport are both the same (ex.Middle name: De Jesus). My dual citizenship certificate has two names on it. (ex. Lea Pantoja Adams- which is the Philippine way) and below this name they put "also known as" (ex. Lea De Jesus Adams - which is American way). I am going to the Philippines by the end of this year and purchased my tickets based on my american passport, so hopefully, I wouldn't encounter any problem. I think, if both names are listed on the dual citizenship certificate, there won't be a problem regarding travel but Iam not so sure of this.

I hope this helps.

Hi Djcabor, thanks, too!

To make sure I understand correctly: Your Philippine passport name is “Lea De Jesus Pantoja-Adams”Your American passport name is “Lea De Jesus Adams”Your dual citizenship certificate has both “Lea Pantoja Adams” and “Lea De Jesus Adams”

Do I understand correctly?

If so, what you’ve done is really interesting! Can you say more how it came about? For example, did you get the dual citizenship certificate and your Philippine passport all done at the same time? Is that why it happened that way? And did you ask for them to do things that way or did you just get a helpful official?

Fritz, thanks for your info, that’s the direction we’re inclined to go in. A concern I have though, is I’ve heard of some consulates giving people a hard time with getting the “Affidavit of One and the Same Person" and even refusing to give it. But what you said about having the 2 passports does clarify things! Thanks.

Mark, thank for your info, too. You always provide good info, well thought-out, and the sources for it. My concern with changing names within the US is that it may not be so easy. We’re worried about any confusion this may cause with my wife’s credit ratings with the 3 major bureaus, setting ourselves up for hassles with the IRS and our state tax agency, employer history for references, and something unknown popping up. Also my wife has already used her green card name in the Philippines to set up account relationships with some utility companies for property she owns.

If it really concerns you check with your county clerk's office to see what is involved with doing a 'legal name change', it is normally pathetically simple in the U.S. Not necessarily in the Philippines.

As far as the credit reports go, it will show up as an AKA (as will all other names she has ever used, and possible some names she never has). Just wait a few months after you do it and order a free credit report from each of the agencies, see what is there and then contact them to have it either corrected or a note added.

Note, the above procedure is generally unnecessary when changing a name at citizenship, as it is a legal name change, just like getting married is. The Certificate of Naturalization serves the same purpose as the Marriage Certificate in this case insofar as notifying anyone that needs to be notified about the name change.

So you can just put the correct name on the Naturalization Certificate, then take that to the social security office and get the name changed there, for free (really easy too). That will also change the name with the IRS, as the IRS goes by Social Security Number. I found this out when I filed our first Joint Return before Cleo had her green card, the eFile return was rejected the first time due to a social security name mismatch, I resubmitted with her maiden name and it was good to go. The following year I filed with her married name, since she had adjusted status and changed her name with social security. It was accepted just fine. We never filed anything with the IRS to change her name, just did the social security thing.

It really is 'just that simple'.

Personally, I would recommend that you use her Philippine married name (maiden middle name) when she naturalizes and then everything will match, once you take care of the social security thing (a couple hours at the most, mostly just waiting for your number to get called). It just seems to me that mucking about with affidavits of 'one in the same person' is unnecessarily complicating matters.

Medical Exams – A caller explained that the civil surgeon who completed the medical exam used the wrong form and then wanted to charge an indigent refugee to reprocess the paperwork on the correct form. What recourse does an applicant have if this occurs?

USCIS Response: Customers should notify the Director of their local office when they have a complaint about a civil surgeon.

To make sure I understand correctly: Your Philippine passport name is “Lea De Jesus Pantoja-Adams”Your American passport name is “Lea De Jesus Adams”Your dual citizenship certificate has both “Lea Pantoja Adams” and “Lea De Jesus Adams”

Do I understand correctly?

If so, what you’ve done is really interesting! Can you say more how it came about? For example, did you get the dual citizenship certificate and your Philippine passport all done at the same time? Is that why it happened that way? And did you ask for them to do things that way or did you just get a helpful official?

Hi Hopeful,

Yes, you are correct.

Two (2) weeks after I submitted my dual citizenship application, the Philippine consulate gave me a call. They told me that my application has been approved and they also asked me when I will be available to take the oath. Then, they scheduled the oath. After the oathtaking, they asked me if I want to apply for new passport (which was my intention) because my Philippine passport has been expired already. So, I filled out the passport application. I told them that I want my passport name to be exactly the same with my US passport and the clerk told me that I can't do that. I have to follow what's on my old philippine passport. So, what we did is put both last name on it.

I didn't tell them to put both names on the Dual Citizenship Certificate though, but I am glad they did.

I hope this helps.

P.S.

Be sure to have a self stamp envelope if you want the passport be mailed to you. I did and I waited 30 days(more or less) before I got mine.

Two (2) weeks after I submitted my dual citizenship application, the Philippine consulate gave me a call. They told me that my application has been approved and they also asked me when I will be available to take the oath. Then, they scheduled the oath. After the oathtaking, they asked me if I want to apply for new passport (which was my intention) because my Philippine passport has been expired already. So, I filled out the passport application. I told them that I want my passport name to be exactly the same with my US passport and the clerk told me that I can't do that. I have to follow what's on my old philippine passport. So, what we did is put both last name on it.

I didn't tell them to put both names on the Dual Citizenship Certificate though, but I am glad they did.

I hope this helps.

P.S.

Be sure to have a self stamp envelope if you want the passport be mailed to you. I did and I waited 30 days(more or less) before I got mine.

Hi djcabor,

Thank you for your reply to my questions. I appreciate your willingness to help.

Thank you for your advice and the information you've provided. You persuaded us to have my wife change her name to accord with the Philippine way. So now we'll be requesting that when we submit the N-400 form.

Thank you for your advice and the information you've provided. You persuaded us to have my wife change her name to accord with the Philippine way. So now we'll be requesting that when we submit the N-400 form.

I think that will be easier for you in the long run. At the most you should only have a couple of months of doing name changes afterword, if that even.

Medical Exams – A caller explained that the civil surgeon who completed the medical exam used the wrong form and then wanted to charge an indigent refugee to reprocess the paperwork on the correct form. What recourse does an applicant have if this occurs?

USCIS Response: Customers should notify the Director of their local office when they have a complaint about a civil surgeon.